« April 2007 |
Main
| June 2007 »
May 14, 2007
Court-Appointed Counsel for Canine
Ron Callan Jr. left an estate worth about $2 million, but the most hotly contested item in the late businessman's Tennessee probate court case is his 13-year-old golden retriever, Alex. The four-way fight over custody of Alex was so intense that a judge appointed an attorney to represent the dog's interests. A judge on Monday approved a consent order to split custody of the dog based on the recommendations of the guardian ad litem, The Commercial Appeal reported. "Obviously, this is a very unusual set of circumstances," attorney Paul Royal wrote of his four-legged client. "At first glance, the petition seems almost frivolous, but after speaking with all parties, it is evident that this is a highly emotional issue for all involved."
Callan, whose New Year's Day shooting death was ruled a suicide, left no will, leaving the court to decide what to do with the dog and the rest of the estate. Callan, 35, was a partner with his father in Callan Salvage & Appraisal Co. His father, Ronald Callan Sr., who was named administrator of his son's estate, has had an ongoing dispute with former wife Esther Snow Gnall over ownership, care and custody of their son's dog. Ronald Callan even claims his ex-wife tried to pay one of his employees to kidnap Alex, an allegation she denies. Also interested in who got the dog was Kim Guill, the fiancee of Ron Callan Jr., who was present when he died. Gnall said that if she gets custody or visitation with Alex, she would allow Guill to spend considerable time with the dog. Royal, the dog's attorney, said in his report to the court that he believes all four people love Alex and would take good care of him. But he said the parties are using the fight for the dog as a means of punishing each other for past transgressions. The elder Callan currently has custody of Alex and brings him to work, where he stays in his office. Callan Sr., who has cats at home, has Alex spend his nights with Chris Griffith, his son's former girlfriend who has known him since he was a puppy.
In the consent order, the father and mother will trade custody every two weeks. Both parties agreed to take the dog to the veterinarian twice a week for his arthritis treatments and any other needed procedures. "This case is similar to a bitter custody battle involving children where each party loves the children, but the kids are stuck between two people who cannot coexist," the attorney said in his report.
Source: Associated Press, via Law.com.
Posted on May 14, 2007 in Oddities | Permalink
|
Comments (0)
|
TrackBack (0)
Divorce Rates Lowest Since 1970
The Associated Press reports that "Despite the common notion that America remains plagued by a divorce epidemic, the national per capita divorce rate has declined steadily since its peak in 1981 and is not at its lowest level since 1970. The national divorce rate has dropped from 5.3 divorces per 1,000 people at its peak in 1981 to 3.6 per 1,000 people, the lowest rate since 1970.
Yet Americans aren't necessarily making better choices about their long-term relationships. Even those who study marriage and work to make it more successful can't decide whether the trend is grounds for celebration or cynicism. Some experts say relationships are as unstable as ever -- and divorces are down primarily because more couples live together without marrying. Other researchers have documented what they call ''the divorce divide,'' contending that divorce rates are indeed falling substantively among college-educated couples but not among less-affluent, less-educated couples. What's fueling that decline? The number of couples who live together without marrying has increased tenfold since 1960; the marriage rate has dropped by nearly 30 percent in past 25 years; and Americans are waiting about five years longer to marry than they did in 1970. One of the researchers whose studies detected the ''divorce divide'' is University of Maryland sociologist Steve Martin. Comparing marriages from early 1970s to those of the early '90s, Martin found that the rate of breakups within 10 years of marriage dropped by one-third among college-educated women while remaining stable among less-educated women. ''Overall, marriages will become more stable only if the lower two-thirds of the population starts behaving like the top third,'' Martin said. ''There's a lot of debate -- is that possible? Can marriage training or other programs give all couples the sort of relationship skills that people imagine college graduates have?''
Stephanie Coontz, who teaches history and family studies at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., says divorces are dropping in the college-educated sector because many spouses ''are learning how to negotiate marriages based on less rigid gender roles than in the past.'' ''College-educated wives are more likely to work than less-educated wives, and a recent study found that unlike the past, a wife's work now tends to stabilize marriage,'' she said.
The per capita divorce rate is different from another method of calculation -- the percentage of marriages that will eventually end in divorce or separation. Many experts discount the popular notion that one of two U.S. marriages end in divorce, and suggest the breakup rate, which is hard to calculate, has stabilized in recent years at between 40 percent and 45 percent. Source: Associated Press, May 10, 2007.
Posted on May 14, 2007 in Divorce | Permalink
|
Comments (0)
|
TrackBack (0)
May 10, 2007
Sperm Donor and Both Parents Liable for Support (Pennsylvania)
An April 30, 2007, decision by a Pennsylvania appellate court establishes three (3) adults as liable for child support. A sperm donor who helped a lesbian couple conceive two children is liable for child support under a state appellate court ruling that a legal expert believes might be the first of its kind in the U.S. The appellate court ordered the trial court establish how much Carl L. Frampton Jr. would have to pay to the birth mother of the 8-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl.
"I'm unaware of any other state appellate court that has found that a child has, simultaneously, three adults who are financially obligated to the child's support and are also entitled to visitation," said New York Law School professor Arthur S. Leonard, an expert on sexuality and the law.
In another twist to the case, the donor died during the litigation. Jodilynn Jacob, 33, and Jennifer Lee Shultz-Jacob, 48, moved in together as a couple in 1996, and were granted a civil-union license in Vermont in 2002. In addition to conceiving the two children with the help of Frampton — a longtime friend of Shultz-Jacob's — Jacob also adopted her brother's two older children, now 12 and 13. But the women's relationship fell apart, and Jacob and the children moved out of their Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, home in February 2006.
Shortly afterward, a court awarded her about $1,000 a month in support from Shultz-Jacob. Shultz-Jacob later lost an effort to have the court force Frampton to contribute support — a decision that the Superior Court overturned April 30.
Jacob, who now lives in Harrisburg, said Frampton provided some financial support over the years and gradually took a greater interest in the children. "Part of the decision came down because he was so involved with them," Jacob said Wednesday. "It wasn't that he went to the (sperm) bank and that was it. They called him Papa." The process was very informal — Jacob was inseminated at home.
In his written opinion requiring Frampton to help pay for the child's support, Superior Court Judge John T.J. Kelly Jr. noted that Frampton spent thousands of dollars on the children, including purchases of toys and clothing. The children knew he was their biological father, but Frampton opposed the effort to compel support from him.
"We made the argument that, according to Pennsylvania law as it stands, there can really only be two adult individuals that can be held liable for support in a child-custody case," said Frampton's lawyer, Matthew Aaron Smith.
Shultz-Jacob's lawyer, Heather Z. Reynosa, wants Frampton's support obligation to be made retroactive to when Jacob first filed for support. Frampton's Social Security survivor benefits may also help reduce Shultz-Jacob's monthly obligation.
It is unclear how the child-support guidelines, which assume two parents, will be adapted to account for three parents. "That's what's going to be interesting, because there's not a whole lot of guidance out there," Reynosa said. The state Supreme Court is currently considering a similar case, in which a sperm donor wants to enforce a promise made by the mother that he would not have to be involved in the child's life. That biological father was ordered to pay $1,520 in monthly support. About two-thirds of states have adopted versions of the Uniform Parentage Act that can shield sperm donors from being forced to assume parenting responsibilities. Pennsylvania has no such law.
Note: The above was compiled from various news articles. The full decision can be found here.
Posted on May 10, 2007 in Child Support, Other States | Permalink
|
Comments (0)
|
TrackBack (1)
Same-Sex Partner Granted Visitation (Minnesota)
The Minnesota Supreme Court issued a decision today granting visitation to a same-sex partner who had not adopted her former partner's children. Marilyn Johnson and Nancy SooHoo, a Minneapolis couple, broke up after 22 years together. During their long relationship, Johnson adopted two children from China. SooHoo did not formally adopt the children. After the breakup, SooHoo petitioned for full custody and child support. The trial court refused to award custody, but gave the non-adopting former partner the right to visit the children two afternoons a week and alternating weekends and holidays, including Mother's Day. The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the visitation order, holding that an ex-partner has the right to see the children if the children were bonded with the ex-mate.
Unlike Iowa, Minnesota has a so-called "third-party visitation statute" which permits, under certain conditions, a third-person not legally or biologically related to a child to have visitation. The constitutionality of that statute was at the center of the Minnesota case.
Posted on May 10, 2007 in Other States, Visitation | Permalink
|
Comments (0)
|
TrackBack (0)
May 09, 2007
Celebrity Bad Parenting Lesson - Part 2
On the heels of Alec Baldwin's example of how lose a custody dispute, comes David Hasselhoff of Baywatch fame (infamy?) with "Celebrity Bad Parenting Lesson ". As widely reported, Mr. Hasselhoff lost visitation rights with his two teenage daughters after a video tape was released allegedly depicting his drunken ramblings.
Posted on May 09, 2007 in Oddities | Permalink
|
Comments (0)
|
TrackBack (0)
Main
| June 2007 »
May 14, 2007
Court-Appointed Counsel for Canine
Ron Callan Jr. left an estate worth about $2 million, but the most hotly contested item in the late businessman's Tennessee probate court case is his 13-year-old golden retriever, Alex. The four-way fight over custody of Alex was so intense that a judge appointed an attorney to represent the dog's interests. A judge on Monday approved a consent order to split custody of the dog based on the recommendations of the guardian ad litem, The Commercial Appeal reported. "Obviously, this is a very unusual set of circumstances," attorney Paul Royal wrote of his four-legged client. "At first glance, the petition seems almost frivolous, but after speaking with all parties, it is evident that this is a highly emotional issue for all involved."
Callan, whose New Year's Day shooting death was ruled a suicide, left no will, leaving the court to decide what to do with the dog and the rest of the estate. Callan, 35, was a partner with his father in Callan Salvage & Appraisal Co. His father, Ronald Callan Sr., who was named administrator of his son's estate, has had an ongoing dispute with former wife Esther Snow Gnall over ownership, care and custody of their son's dog. Ronald Callan even claims his ex-wife tried to pay one of his employees to kidnap Alex, an allegation she denies. Also interested in who got the dog was Kim Guill, the fiancee of Ron Callan Jr., who was present when he died. Gnall said that if she gets custody or visitation with Alex, she would allow Guill to spend considerable time with the dog. Royal, the dog's attorney, said in his report to the court that he believes all four people love Alex and would take good care of him. But he said the parties are using the fight for the dog as a means of punishing each other for past transgressions. The elder Callan currently has custody of Alex and brings him to work, where he stays in his office. Callan Sr., who has cats at home, has Alex spend his nights with Chris Griffith, his son's former girlfriend who has known him since he was a puppy.
In the consent order, the father and mother will trade custody every two weeks. Both parties agreed to take the dog to the veterinarian twice a week for his arthritis treatments and any other needed procedures. "This case is similar to a bitter custody battle involving children where each party loves the children, but the kids are stuck between two people who cannot coexist," the attorney said in his report.
Source: Associated Press, via Law.com.
Posted on May 14, 2007 in Oddities | Permalink
|
Comments (0)
|
TrackBack (0)
Divorce Rates Lowest Since 1970
The Associated Press reports that "Despite the common notion that America remains plagued by a divorce epidemic, the national per capita divorce rate has declined steadily since its peak in 1981 and is not at its lowest level since 1970. The national divorce rate has dropped from 5.3 divorces per 1,000 people at its peak in 1981 to 3.6 per 1,000 people, the lowest rate since 1970.
Yet Americans aren't necessarily making better choices about their long-term relationships. Even those who study marriage and work to make it more successful can't decide whether the trend is grounds for celebration or cynicism. Some experts say relationships are as unstable as ever -- and divorces are down primarily because more couples live together without marrying. Other researchers have documented what they call ''the divorce divide,'' contending that divorce rates are indeed falling substantively among college-educated couples but not among less-affluent, less-educated couples. What's fueling that decline? The number of couples who live together without marrying has increased tenfold since 1960; the marriage rate has dropped by nearly 30 percent in past 25 years; and Americans are waiting about five years longer to marry than they did in 1970. One of the researchers whose studies detected the ''divorce divide'' is University of Maryland sociologist Steve Martin. Comparing marriages from early 1970s to those of the early '90s, Martin found that the rate of breakups within 10 years of marriage dropped by one-third among college-educated women while remaining stable among less-educated women. ''Overall, marriages will become more stable only if the lower two-thirds of the population starts behaving like the top third,'' Martin said. ''There's a lot of debate -- is that possible? Can marriage training or other programs give all couples the sort of relationship skills that people imagine college graduates have?''
Stephanie Coontz, who teaches history and family studies at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., says divorces are dropping in the college-educated sector because many spouses ''are learning how to negotiate marriages based on less rigid gender roles than in the past.'' ''College-educated wives are more likely to work than less-educated wives, and a recent study found that unlike the past, a wife's work now tends to stabilize marriage,'' she said.
The per capita divorce rate is different from another method of calculation -- the percentage of marriages that will eventually end in divorce or separation. Many experts discount the popular notion that one of two U.S. marriages end in divorce, and suggest the breakup rate, which is hard to calculate, has stabilized in recent years at between 40 percent and 45 percent. Source: Associated Press, May 10, 2007.
Posted on May 14, 2007 in Divorce | Permalink
|
Comments (0)
|
TrackBack (0)
May 10, 2007
Sperm Donor and Both Parents Liable for Support (Pennsylvania)
An April 30, 2007, decision by a Pennsylvania appellate court establishes three (3) adults as liable for child support. A sperm donor who helped a lesbian couple conceive two children is liable for child support under a state appellate court ruling that a legal expert believes might be the first of its kind in the U.S. The appellate court ordered the trial court establish how much Carl L. Frampton Jr. would have to pay to the birth mother of the 8-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl.
"I'm unaware of any other state appellate court that has found that a child has, simultaneously, three adults who are financially obligated to the child's support and are also entitled to visitation," said New York Law School professor Arthur S. Leonard, an expert on sexuality and the law.
In another twist to the case, the donor died during the litigation. Jodilynn Jacob, 33, and Jennifer Lee Shultz-Jacob, 48, moved in together as a couple in 1996, and were granted a civil-union license in Vermont in 2002. In addition to conceiving the two children with the help of Frampton — a longtime friend of Shultz-Jacob's — Jacob also adopted her brother's two older children, now 12 and 13. But the women's relationship fell apart, and Jacob and the children moved out of their Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, home in February 2006.
Shortly afterward, a court awarded her about $1,000 a month in support from Shultz-Jacob. Shultz-Jacob later lost an effort to have the court force Frampton to contribute support — a decision that the Superior Court overturned April 30.
Jacob, who now lives in Harrisburg, said Frampton provided some financial support over the years and gradually took a greater interest in the children. "Part of the decision came down because he was so involved with them," Jacob said Wednesday. "It wasn't that he went to the (sperm) bank and that was it. They called him Papa." The process was very informal — Jacob was inseminated at home.
In his written opinion requiring Frampton to help pay for the child's support, Superior Court Judge John T.J. Kelly Jr. noted that Frampton spent thousands of dollars on the children, including purchases of toys and clothing. The children knew he was their biological father, but Frampton opposed the effort to compel support from him.
"We made the argument that, according to Pennsylvania law as it stands, there can really only be two adult individuals that can be held liable for support in a child-custody case," said Frampton's lawyer, Matthew Aaron Smith.
Shultz-Jacob's lawyer, Heather Z. Reynosa, wants Frampton's support obligation to be made retroactive to when Jacob first filed for support. Frampton's Social Security survivor benefits may also help reduce Shultz-Jacob's monthly obligation.
It is unclear how the child-support guidelines, which assume two parents, will be adapted to account for three parents. "That's what's going to be interesting, because there's not a whole lot of guidance out there," Reynosa said. The state Supreme Court is currently considering a similar case, in which a sperm donor wants to enforce a promise made by the mother that he would not have to be involved in the child's life. That biological father was ordered to pay $1,520 in monthly support. About two-thirds of states have adopted versions of the Uniform Parentage Act that can shield sperm donors from being forced to assume parenting responsibilities. Pennsylvania has no such law.
Note: The above was compiled from various news articles. The full decision can be found here.
Posted on May 10, 2007 in Child Support, Other States | Permalink
|
Comments (0)
|
TrackBack (1)
Same-Sex Partner Granted Visitation (Minnesota)
The Minnesota Supreme Court issued a decision today granting visitation to a same-sex partner who had not adopted her former partner's children. Marilyn Johnson and Nancy SooHoo, a Minneapolis couple, broke up after 22 years together. During their long relationship, Johnson adopted two children from China. SooHoo did not formally adopt the children. After the breakup, SooHoo petitioned for full custody and child support. The trial court refused to award custody, but gave the non-adopting former partner the right to visit the children two afternoons a week and alternating weekends and holidays, including Mother's Day. The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the visitation order, holding that an ex-partner has the right to see the children if the children were bonded with the ex-mate.
Unlike Iowa, Minnesota has a so-called "third-party visitation statute" which permits, under certain conditions, a third-person not legally or biologically related to a child to have visitation. The constitutionality of that statute was at the center of the Minnesota case.
Posted on May 10, 2007 in Other States, Visitation | Permalink
|
Comments (0)
|
TrackBack (0)
May 09, 2007
Celebrity Bad Parenting Lesson - Part 2
On the heels of Alec Baldwin's example of how lose a custody dispute, comes David Hasselhoff of Baywatch fame (infamy?) with "Celebrity Bad Parenting Lesson ". As widely reported, Mr. Hasselhoff lost visitation rights with his two teenage daughters after a video tape was released allegedly depicting his drunken ramblings.
Posted on May 09, 2007 in Oddities | Permalink
|
Comments (0)
|
TrackBack (0)
© 2004-2011 iadivorce.com All Rights Reserved.